Return to the Forest
by MarandaWrites
Summary: Stephanie's turmoil has gone on for a year. Uncle Milford is threatening to let doctors take her away to an asylum. The townsfolk are whispering behind her back. On one important evening, Stephanie travels to her only sacred place. She soon realizes that memories are more powerful than she ever knew . . . and nightmares are realities waiting to feast on fear.
1. Part One

_A/N: Ah, yes, there is more._

**Return to the Forest**

**Part One**

If only they could hear screaming like I do. Alone, late at night when blackness merges with dusk. I usually lie under the stars, right on the same bleachers where I first felt for him. Sometimes, I feel his warmth brush over my face. Sometimes, I hallucinate his body sitting next to me, no longer dead. Robbie, Master of Disguise.

"Take your pill, please." Uncle Milford shoves a little green pill in my face. "Stop making me ask you every five seconds."

I place the pill under my tongue. Spit it out later. No one can tell if I haven't taken it because I walk around like a zombie most of the time. One of the side-effects of anti-depressants is numbness anyways. I portray no emotions. I am an empty canvas.

"There," Milford says, "Much better. If you don't cooperate for once and for all they're going to send you away."

"I know."

"I don't think you completely understand where they will send you."

"Probably a morgue."

"Stephanie! I am being serious."

I shrug. I announce I am going for a walk. It is a little after eight p.m. and night is inching in. I put on my pair of black sneakers that I threw against a wall earlier. I cleaned up the mud print before Uncle Milford saw. Last thing I need him to see is my anger.

"Be back-"

"Before midnight, I know." I interrupt him and leave the house.

Outside is humid. It is the beginning of June. Tonight is a very special night. Tonight marks a year since Robbie passed away. Uncle Milford forgot – I reminded him this morning with tears in my eyes and my black funeral dress on. I haven't taken it off all day.

I walk past Ziggy's house. He is staring out the window, expecting me to return eye contact. My old friends blame Robbie for his own death; they say he brought it on himself by making so many dangerous inventions. He wasn't a genius, but he never asked to die. Needless to say, I don't talk to anyone in this town aside from my burdened Uncle and the occasional Blue Freak. Sportacus, hero to everyone but me. Sportacus, pervert extraordinaire. _Hitting on Stephanie after her soulmate died is a great idea. Let's try this every month and see how it goes. Eventually she will give in._

I never wanted to sleep with him. I was purely confused and hopeless. I don't blame myself for giving in. I gave him my body once. After that, I felt like a traitor, cheater, and adulterer. I never wanted Sportacus.

Tonight I walk farther than the bleachers. I force my strained legs through a field and up to remnants of what was once a giant billboard. Nothing is left at Robbie's except for rubble and the entrance to his underground home. I have tried to dig through planks of metal to reach inside. Tonight, there is one more piece to remove. It is the ladder.


	2. Halloween

**Halloween**

I manage to move the ladder. It takes a few tries and it is very heavy. I think my pent up aggression allows me to move it at last. There is nothing I want more than to go inside of Robbie's home and finally see the inside for the first time in a year. I uncover the entrance and see that the rest of the ladder is still bolted to the floor of Robbie's home. I hang on tight and start to decline.

Blackness and ash stir up from below. A gust of air blows in and over my face. It reminds me of a bag of chips opening. I step cautiously over a broken step. I am lucky I didn't have to jump all the way down. Though dusk is approaching, there is enough light to see a broken home. If only the light could warm my broken heart.

I collapse onto the floor. A dust cloud surrounds me and I cough uncontrollably. I sit for a moment and stare. Robbie's home is a mess, for lack of a better term. Metal and glass scatters the floor with cobwebs attached like connect-the-dots. I see a familiar orange hue. Hairs on my arms rise. I stand up and run to the orange chair, not caring that glass is crunching below me.

The way I sob, I could invent a new term for tears. These are not normal water-works. They are acid rain drops on my cheeks. I curl up on the orange chair, inhaling who knows how much dust and ash. I don't care. I am snuggling with a memory. I am instantly in more pain and yet secure in this chair.

"Black and orange. Is it Halloween?"

A voice echoes. I am hearing things again.

"You look like one of those floofy fairytale girls like Little Miss Muffet or something."

My eyes shut tight as another pool spills from my eyes.

I open them. A pair of chocolate eyes are inches from mine. I am frozen.


	3. Breathless

_A/N: Yes, that was short. Just needed to get the ball rolling. Thank you for reviews. Keep them coming. Happy reading!_

**Breathless**

I will be honest. The moment I felt his breath interlocking with mine, my life ended and started all over again. Maybe Uncle Milford was right: I am going insane. Robbie stares into my soul as he kneels in front of me. It is a hallucination. It is not real. And yet I am wondering why I can sense his heart beating, his inhales and exhales, his love. I am wondering if I should move or stay speechless, mouth trembling, body immobile like a marble slab.

"Can you say something?"

Robbie's voice causes all of the world to immerse into nothingness.

"Are you scared?" He asks more questions, "Is this ok? Do you not want to see me right now?"

"You are . . . dead." I answer with a cold voice.

"Ah, it's complicated."

I am going to respond, but I am enveloped by Robbie. He places his palm on my cheek and rubs some of the tears off. His hand is warm. I can feel it there. It can't be a hallucination, can it? After a year of attempting suicide and having mental problems, can I really trust my mind? And when Robbie kisses me lightly on the lips – oh my insides explode – is that a figment of my imagination? I have no breath leaving my lips as he pulls away.

"I don't understand. You are dead. You are dead!"

"Don't be so harsh, Pinky." Robbie smirks. He stands up and reaches out his hand.

All around us is dark except for the orange chair. When I take his hand – I so missed his touch – I melt. I fall into him. We hug for an eternity. If it is not real, my mind is a genius.

Robbie's voice is rough as if he has cried. I cannot see very well behind my own blurred vision. He takes my hand again and leads me into the darkness. My full trust is with him. Of course fear is eating behind a wall of joy.

We start running. Air is blowing through my hair. I realize we are no longer crunching on glass or dodging broken furniture and machines. We are running towards a light. As it gets closer, I can see we are no longer in his house.

Robbie and I emerge into an open field. I look behind us – more open field. His house has completely disappeared. Robbie looks back at me and smiles. His navy polo looks damp as if he had run for miles. I look down and notice I am sweating as well. Not a very attractive thing. I am astonished by the change in scenery. My head is dizzy from trying to absorb what happened.

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore," I joke as if it will make this transition better to cope with.

"I told you to trust me. Steph, I will do you no wrong. Just keep holding my hand. You need to see something."

And so we walk through the field. From any outsider's view, we would look very strange; I in my funeral gown and Robbie in normal clothing. Our fingers interlace. We aren't running anymore. In this strange field, all fears subside.


	4. Dancing

**Dancing**

Though we emerged into light, this field is now being shrouded by night time. Robbie and I have been walking for quite a bit. A faint sound of music stretched out to my ears. I don't say anything, for it might be from exhaustion. I follow Robbie further, and begin seeing lights of all colors flickering in the background. Now I am worried about my sanity.

"Welcome to my home," Robbie says.

Yes, my hearing was correct, as was my sight. We are standing a few yards away from a giant carnival. A big band is playing somewhere. The brass and percussion hit my brain as if I've never knew what music was. Neon signs and rides are lit up. A Ferris-wheel stands proudly on the back left corner. I can hear children laughing, women giggling, and men boasting about shooting games. Robbie guides me into the carnival and I am overwhelmed by feeling welcome. Stringed lights sway over my head in the wind. I am again speechless

"I don't understand. What is this? Heaven?"

Robbie laughs and grabs my arm. He pulls me to an open area just as a ballad begins. We begin to dance together. I momentarily forget how awkward this night is.

"Pinky," He continues while swaying us side to side, "You can stop worrying. This is not Heaven, Hell, or any afterlife. This is another world."

"What?"

"When my nightmare machine blew up, it didn't kill me. It opened up a portal to another world based on my dreams. I pulled you through the entrance after a year of studying the land. Everything here is safe. It is wonderful here. But it is missing you. I'm not saying you need to stay here. I'm saying I am alive." Robbie pulls me closer and whispers, "I am not dead."

I shuffle thoughts in my head like playing cards. "You have been alive for a year and there was no way of getting in touch with me?"

He responds, "Not until tonight. I knew on this night you would be snooping around my home, trying to find pieces of my past. I knew it would be the perfect time to get you here. I tried to travel through the portal every single day, but found out it only allowed me to on days that meant something to both of us. On your birthday, it let me through. On the first day of summer when we started to talk, it let me through. I couldn't get out of my buried home, though. I was barricaded in. It is you who has come to rescue me this time."

"I need to sit down." I suddenly felt very dizzy. All of this was too much. It was too big.

"Stephanie, all this time I've been here, there hasn't been a day I didn't think about you. I'm no softy, you know this, so take these words before I start to make trouble. I brought you here, finally, and we can work together to fix everything."


	5. Part Two

**Part Two**

Though Robbie and I spend a while riding on bumper cars and the Tilt-A-Whirl, we know a serious conversation is up ahead. He brings me on the Ferris Wheel. It stops at the top for quite a bit. We look at each other intensely. Robbie knows his dream world cannot remain the same forever.

"I do have a plan." He starts quietly, "I have a plan and you might not like it."

"Lay it on me, Robbie."

"Well, during my free time I have drawn up blueprints and have written instructions on building something no one should tamper with. . . if you can pull it off, we both will be saved from everything that happened last year. The only problem is that it would reset a lot too, especially my mind. Time machines are nothing to screw around with. I never dreamt of building one, but you just might have to."

"Wait," I nearly jump out of the seat. "_Me?_ How on earth can I build a time machine?"

Robbie nods his head to the music from below. "Just believe in yourself. If you can't do it, I will be stuck here."

"You said you could travel back to Lazytown on important days though. Can't you just show back up now that I moved the rubble from your home?"

"I wish it were that simple. A dead man cannot just return a year later. Besides, it's not a good idea leaving this portal open. I've been keeping my dream-world from leaking into reality. It would be disastrous."

"Alright. I will do it. I need to know where to begin."

"I have to get you back, Pinky. It's almost midnight. Our important day is almost done."

The Ferris-Wheel returns to the ground and Robbie helps me out of the cart. We walk towards the open field again. He holds my hand and has a worried look on his face. I take one look back at the carnival as it fades from view. That is where Robbie takes the plans out of his pocket. They are folded neatly. I have nowhere to put them aside from down my dress. Robbie stifles a laugh.

Soon I am led into darkness. Where the two worlds meet, there is a piece of tree that looks almost warped. Robbie pulled me in, warning me to watch my step. I am not sure yet how tonight even took place. I am nervous about going home after such hallucinations.

"Here we are." Robbie sits me down on his orange chair. It appears cleaner than before.

"I missed you." I say.

He replies, "I know."

I can no longer see him. He has evaporated into the dark void. I am left sitting, contemplating a fascinating and terrifying event. With a deep breath, I lift myself and approach the ladder. I climb, emerging to an evening sky with stars littered in the streets of the galaxy.

My long walk home brings me into Uncle Milford's home just at ten past twelve. He is sleeping on the couch in front of the television. I head upstairs to take off my funeral dress and look at the blueprints. At first, I half expect them to be gone. When I do pull them out, my heart jolts as reality hits me hard. I truly did see Robbie. We did go to his other world and he is alive. It is a miracle that the nightmare machine had a strange effect other than death.

Sleep is pulling at my eyes. I stick the blueprints under my pillow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.


End file.
